(Munich) In three months punctuated by 17 goals in the Bayern jersey, Harry Kane has already met the expectations raised by his arrival in Munich: next step Wednesday in the Champions League against Galatasaray, to try to get a ticket for the 8th of final.
Match after match, Harry Kane continues to impress with Bayern, for the first experience outside of England of his career, at 30 years old.
And as Thomas Müller pointed out on Saturday after a Klassiker dominated on the pitch of Borussia Dortmund (4-0), Kane will run out of space in his hotel room (he has not yet found a house in Munich), to pile up match balls which he systematically takes with him after scoring hat-tricks.
The latest on Saturday was his first hat-trick (three consecutive goals) in Munich, which was not the case with his hat-tricks against Bochum (7-0) and Darmstadt (8-0).
The first Bayern player to score three goals in his first Klassiker, Kane took the lead in the German league scoring charts with 15 goals.
Here too, the comparison is flattering for the captain of the Three Lions (the nickname of the English team): during the 60 seasons of the Bundesliga, only the German Gerd Müller (1945-2021) in the 1968/69 season had reached this total after 10 days.
“For me it was always clear: what he is capable of doing, he can achieve on any pitch in the world. But with such change, there are also unknowns. We couldn’t assume that it would work so well,” praised Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel, recalling that it was the first transfer in the player’s career.
“He’s doing what he’s always done, he’s finding players more and more easily. He’s a great person, a great player,” added the Bavarian technician.
Kane came to Bavaria in the summer of 2023 to finally compensate for the departure in the summer of 2022 to FC Barcelona of Robert Lewandowski, a real goal machine for eight seasons at Bayern. But his impact goes well beyond the number of goals scored (17 adding the two in the Champions League).
When the Polish center forward has always confined himself to work of formidable efficiency in the penalty area, Kane participates much more in the defensive withdrawal of his team and it is not rare to see him recover the ball 30 meters from the Munich goal.
In the space of two weeks since the first leg in Istanbul against Galatasaray, Kane has provided two assists and scored seven times, including an exceptional 55-yard lob against Darmstadt in the Bundesliga.
“All the experience he has accumulated in his career, obviously he did not leave it in England, but he brought it with him to the Bundesliga,” underlined Manuel Neuer after the match in Dortmund on Saturday.
“I expected him to be very good, but not at the level he’s playing at the moment. It’s easier to play alongside him than I thought,” Jamal Musiala appreciated after the Klassiker.
Second top scorer in the history of the English championship (213 compared to 260 for Alan Shearer), Kane wants to open his record in Germany, he who only has one Champions League final with Tottenham in June 2019 lost against Liverpool ( 2-0).
In the Champions League, a first passing point can be reached on Wednesday evening at the Allianz Arena: in the event of a draw against Galatasaray, the Munich players will qualify and can even hope in the event of a victory to already secure first place in the group, synonymous advantage of the field for the round of 16 second leg.
